Journal of Archaeological Science-Reports最新文献

Accurately estimating the biological sex of human skeletal remains is crucial in both forensic and archaeological contexts for constructing biological profiles. Presently, one of the most commonly used methods involves an ordinal scale describing the shape of the greater sciatic notch (GSN). However, this approach is limited by variations influenced by temporal, geographic, and ancestral factors affecting pelvic morphology. Consequently, its reliable applicability is restricted to populations resembling the original reference group. Recent advancements in quantitative analyses offer a promising alternative by enabling detailed measurement of subtle morphological changes, thus enhancing the accuracy of sex estimation using skeletal pelvic remains. In this study, we employ 2D landmark-based geometric morphometrics (GMM) to develop a protocol for pelvic sex estimation by quantifying the curve and angle of the GSN. These techniques are applied to both a contemporary population of adult European-Americans of known biological sexes (33 females, 38 males) and an archaeological population (n = 73) from south-west England. Our analysis reveals that our GMM approach achieves a 90 % accuracy rate in modern populations. Results indicate that both GSN morphology and angle are highly indicative of biological sex, allowing confidence in sex estimations of archaeological remains using these features.

Archaeobotanical and stable isotope analysis on plant remains from 39 sites spanning the Bronze, Iron, and Viking Ages in Denmark has been undertaken in order to investigate the development and resilience of agricultural practices, particularly through the 1250-year-long Iron Age (500 BC – AD 750). During this time, an increase in the spectrum of food resources can be seen in the archaeobotanical material. At the same time, soil enrichment of fields of barley, which increased markedly during the Bronze−Iron Age transition, remains consistent until the Viking Age. A more broad-spectrum diet appears to tie in with agricultural extensification comprising increased scales of land use and fallowing alongside possibly less intense tillage of fields. These practices appear to have made agriculture resilient to climatic fluctuations during our study period, with the possible exception of a shift following volcanic eruptions in AD 536/540.

Parasite remains in archaeological contexts provide a chance to look at the life of past populations from various perspectives, including dietary behaviors, subsistence activities, constructions of latrines, waste management, and interactions with the surrounding environment. Hubei Province is situated in Central China, boasting a rich history marked by extensive human activity. Previous studies have illuminated the presence of intestinal parasites in mummies of the Warring States Period (5th century BCE to 3rd century BCE) and Han Dynasty (3rd century BCE to 3rd century CE) sites, e.g., Chinese liver flukes (Clonorchis sinensis). This research centers on the analysis of twenty soil samples obtained from the pelvic region of human skeletal remains in seven archaeological sites within Hubei dating from the Warring States Period (5th century BCE to 3rd century BCE) to the Han Dynasty (3rd century BCE to 3rd century CE). The investigation has identified the presence of Chinese liver flukes (Clonorchis sinensis) at the site Gaotai. Several factors may contribute to the parasitic infection among the ancient Hubei population, including a suitable living environment for parasites, consumption of raw or undercooked fish, use of night soil, the rudimentary construction of latrines situated close to pigpens and bodies of water, as well as inadequate feces management. This research, with previous studies, indicates a possible endemic area for Chinese liver fluke in ancient Hubei. Future studies are expected to be conducted on the epidemiology of intestinal parasitic infection among ancient Hubei populations.

Red overglaze decoration is one of the earliest and most important colorful overglaze decorations in China, which had a remarkable influence on the successful firing and development of polychrome overglaze porcelains. The uncontrollability of red overglaze decoration led to a certain proportion of defective porcelain products in the Ming Dynasty (1368–1644 CE). To investigate and identify the coloring effect of iron oxide crystals in red overglaze decoration, three groups of samples with different color appearance were non-destructively analyzed and observed by OM, spectrophotometer, XRF, Raman spectroscopy, XRD and SEM. The results show that the hue of red overglaze decoration was caused by the different crystal forms of iron oxide. Hematite (α-Fe₂O₃) displays red color, while maghemite (γ-Fe₂O₃) and magnetite (Fe₃O₄) yield orange-red and dark red colors. With the similar raw materials and manufacturing processes, the presence of maghemite and magnetite are related to subtle differences in processing raw materials and firing them.

Soil properties reflect a host of environmental conditions and land-use patterns. Formation of cultural landscapes may well be studied at barrow cemeteries, which give the opportunity of comparing the properties of buried soils, the material building the mounds and the present-day soil cover. Current archaeo-pedological research on Late Neolithic long-barrows indicates a widespread Early Holocene presence of fertile chernozemic soils in the loess zone in Silesia (SW Poland) and their subsequent transformation (en masse) into Luvisols during the Subboreal and Subatlantic. Since the timing of the transformation remains a question – to elaborate the regional chronosequence of soil evolution – we examined the barrow cemetery in the Rozumice Forest, presumably of early medieval age. We assessed the chronology of the burial mounds and properties of the soil record by analysis of ALS data and magnetometer survey, as well as pedological and archaeobotanical analyses and ¹⁴C dating of samples from cores extracted from four of the barrows. The results show that the barrows in the Rozumice Forest were most likely built in the Early Middle Ages (7-9th c. AD) using local Luvisol (clay-illuvial soil) material, after vegetation clearance by fire. The buried Luvisols found beneath the mounds bear traces of human land-use – settlement and/or agriculture during the Late Neolithic, and may be polygenetic, being the result of transformation of Early Holocene chernozemic soils.

Dental microwear texture analysis (DMTA) is a proxy used for characterising vertebrate palaeodiets in archaeological and palaeontological studies through the acquisition of 3D micro-texture height maps using confocal microscopy. Unlike previous techniques, DMTA is a quantitative method and enables reproducibility and repeatability. However, researchers working on DMTA have used different measurement equipment, softwares and microscopy objectives (magnification and numerical aperture). In the case of the objectives, DMTA widely uses 100x objective magnification, although successful applications at 20x and 50x have been reported. This study investigates the discriminative abilities at different magnifications, and discuss the advantages of each one. For this purpose, a set of 94 modern domestic and wild goats were analysed at 10x/0.30, 20x/0.45, 50x/0.80, and 100x/0.80. Our results demonstrate that all magnifications can discern between the seven groups of modern goats. However, 10x and 20x magnifications showed lower discrimination compared to 50x and 100x. Discriminant analyses revealed progressively refined distinctions at higher magnifications, with 100x yielding the best results. These findings support prior research suggesting the efficacy of 100x magnification in DMTA as the most optimal choice. However, it should be emphasised that high magnification and numerical aperture can present some limitations. Depending on the characteristics of the material studied and the microscope, an objective with lower magnification and numerical aperture may me more suitable.

In the 1960s, Renfrew and colleagues tested an obsidian vessel from Tepe Gawra in northern Iraq. The vessel was attributed to their “Group 1e-f” chemical type, which matched obsidian from the Acıgöl volcanic complex in central Turkey as well as unclear locations in eastern Turkey and Armenia. Renfrew and colleagues favored an attribution of the vessel to Acıgöl, and consequently, an association between obsidian vessels and central Turkey became widely held in the literature. Given the destructive nature of chemical analysis until the 21st century, obsidian vessels and fragments were almost never tested, so there were few chances to overturn or support this association. Furthermore, such vessels have attracted much attention as likely prestige objects. To consider value and meanings derived from a material’s source, however, it is crucial to have the correct identification of its origin. First I consider the available sourcing data for previously studied vessel fragments. Second I report my new source identifications for a vessel with an uncertain provenience in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, fragments from Ur, and the same vessel from Tepe Gawra tested by Renfrew and colleagues. Only the site located in south-central Turkey (Domuztepe) had polished artifact fragments from the obsidian sources of Cappadocia. For Mesopotamian (Tepe Gawra, Ur, Kenan Tepe) and Zagros (Tal-e Malyan) sites, the vessels instead derived from four sources in eastern Turkey: Sarıkamış 2, Nemrut Dağ 2, Bingöl B, and Meydan Dağ. Thus, the association between obsidian vessels and central Turkey must be abandoned, as must narratives based on this association (e.g., exchange between early states or elites in Cappadocia and Mesopotamia).

Crystallographic information and the internal structure of Japanese swords are crucial for understanding their metallurgical characteristics and exploring their making process. By accumulating such information from various swords made in different regions, eras and by different swordsmiths, we believe it will greatly aid in the comprehensive understanding of Japanese swords. We have been investigating Japanese swords using nondestructive analysis methods of neutron Bragg-edge transmission (BET) imaging and neutron tomography. BET provides insights into the crystalline structure of the steel, while the neutron tomography offers cross-sectional views of the sword. In this study, we examined three swords: Kashu Kiyomitsu, Nankaitaro Tomotaka, and Hosokawa Masanori, crafted between the Edo era (ca. 1603–1850) and the Meiji era (1868–1912).

Kashu Kiyomitsu, from the early Edo era, exhibited a complex internal structure, with crystallite size of 0.5 µm or less around the cutting tip. Furthermore, other regions with crystallite sizes of 1 µm or larger were observed, extending from the middle area of the blade to the vicinity of the tang. The cross-sectional features of Kashu Kiyomitsu suggest that the sword has a complex structure probably combining low-carbon steel Kawagane and Shingane with a dedicated high-carbon steel for the cutting edge, Hagane. The martensite phase, indicating the quenched area, extended evenly over approximately 4 mm. In contrast, both Nankaitaro Tomotaka, from the late Edo era, and Hosokawa Masanori, from the Meiji era, exhibited relatively uniform crystallographic structures throughout the entire blade. In Nankaitaro Tomotaka, the martensite phase extended over a width of 4–6 mm from the cutting edge, confirming the arch-like boundary between martensite and ferrite/pearlite within the blade. In Hosokawa Masanori, the martensite phase extended over approximately 8–10 mm from the cutting edge, with a wavy pattern along the longitudinal direction. These observations suggest that Nankaitaro Tomotaka and Hosokawa Masanori were made using simpler sword-making techniques compared to Kashu Kiyomitsu.

The results of the study of birds of prey remains from the southern part of Eastern Europe are analysed in the paper. The studied material comes from 169 archaeological sites of different age (Neolithic/Eneolithic, Bronze Age, Early Iron Age, Early Middle Ages, Kyivan Rus Time, and the Modern Age). Twenty-eight species of raptors were identified in the samples. Of them, hawks, eagles, and vultures are represented by 20 species, while falcons and owls are less diverse (each are represented by only four taxa). Particular birds of prey species were more widely distributed in the historical past of the studied region and were characterised by higher abundance compared to modern times. The remains of owls are especially numerous in materials from Neolithic, Eneolithic, and Bronze Age settlements. The Early Iron Age was the time of a high abundance of diurnal raptors, which were used for different purposes by the people inhabiting the territory of modern-day Ukraine. Only a few birds of prey were recorded for the Early Middle Ages and the Modern Age, most probably due to economic issues and the development of animal husbandry. Numerous remains of hawks and a lesser amount of falcon bones were found at settlements of the Kyivan Rus state, which is associated with the spread of gamehawking while falconry with falcons was available mainly to the elite of that time. The results of archaeornithological studies are supplemented and corroborated to some extent with the information taken from literature sources and by analysing the ancient images of birds.

Sex estimation of the individuals in a sample is fundamental for any bioarchaeological study to define a particular demographic assemblage or to classify isolated remains. Long bones are an excellent alternative for sex estimation when the most dimorphic anatomical parts are not preserved or are highly altered. Here we propose a set of discriminant functions and classification models to estimate the sex of prehistoric individuals using linear discriminant analysis and machine learning approaches. Different osteometric variables were taken from the humeri, ulnae, radii, femurs and tibias of a sample of 109 articulated skeletons buried in the collective tomb of Camino del Molino (Region of Murcia, SE-Spain), dated to the 3rd millennium BC. Sex was estimated based on standard anthropological methods and ancient DNA analysis of a control sample. Fifty-two discriminant functions with prediction thresholds higher than 0.8 on the ROC curve were obtained using independent (22) and combined variables (30). The best LDA models for sex prediction were those based on proximal epiphyseal widths or their combination with other variables, reaching values close to 0.98 on the ROC curve. The random forest-based model obtained an accuracy of 0.94 and confirmed the importance of epiphyseal widths in sex classification. This analysis is more comprehensive than univariate LDA, as it allows for ranking the importance of bones in sex discrimination and considers correlations between long bones rather than treating them as independent observations. In contrast, applying LDA to each bone makes it easier to predict the sex of other coeval collections that do not have such a complete sample. This work aims to overcome the scarcity of methods that can be applied to sex estimation of the large volume of isolated remains from Camino del Molino and for other Mediterranean skeletal series from the Late Prehistory with high biological affinity and that share similar environmental conditions.